Scourge is wrath.
This one was kind of difficult to pick, as Warriors has a lot of wrathful characters. Wrath is generally interpreted as wanting retribution against those who wronged you. I originally thought about Mapleshade being portrayed as this, as wrath is also desire for vengeance and well "Mapleshade's Vengeance". I also thought about Ashfur and Breezepelt, although Ashfur's 'wrath' was mere delusion, which I'll elaborate on later. So then I thought about Scourge. I realized, his entire story is about his wrath. Hatred towards Tigerpaw, and Tiny's promise to kill him was literally why Tiny became Scourge in the first place. He was created to fit this position.
Now, about the symbolism. The background depicts the characters in his story who gave him a sort of 'push' towards becoming Scourge. If you look closely, in Scourge's (body I guess?) is Tiny. So it’s basically a very cheesy symbolism towards 'Tiny became the monster he once claimed to be.' What? I love my symbolism, cheesy or no! XD
Also, the red fit perfectly for Scourge, seeing as red is generally depicted as the color of wrath. 'The only blood I care about is the blood that spills from my enemies' indeed.
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Brokenstar is gluttony.
Of all that I mulled over, picking out gluttony was the second most difficult. Finding a character to fit was challenging as gluttony is not very common in Warriors, what with fighting for their survival and whatnot. The few examples I could think of were Graystripe's and Bumblestripe's eating habits, and a villainous example of Darkstripe with Sorrelkit and earlier on, Poppydawn. I didn't even think of Brokenstar that much in the traditional sense of gluttony. So, decided to look past the traditional sense for a more broadened approach.
Gluttony is not just food related. It is the overindulgence of things to the point of waste. So yes, food is usually involved. However, let's review Brokenstar's 'sins' and his wastefulness.
Drove the elders and sickly out? Check. Wasted potential warriors by killing them as young kits? Check. Drove his medicine cat and own mother out which would also waste lives as there was no medicine cat? Check. Stole from other clans, including driving out WindClan, and stabbing ThunderClan in the back for their kindness? Check. Congratulations Brokenstar, you're an arse! : ) Also, he wasted Beetlewhisker’s life as well for no real reason. Also Ferncloud, which is ironic considering she’s almost the exact opposite of Brokenstar.
Also, remember how I stated I didn't think much about Brokenstar fitting gluttony at first? Well, he actually does have some food related examples of gluttony.
He forced his Clan to eat crowfood. He stole prey from WindClan territory after he drove them out. Also, he earned ironic karma because his mother force-fed him deathberries.
Symbolically, his background is a mix up of cats he's been gluttonous towards, and cats who were effected by his gluttony. Yellowfang is there with death berries symbolizing sweet, sweet karma. Also she was effected by his gluttony. Beside her is Raggedstar, whose life was wasted, and who ironically (somewhat) encouraged Brokenstar's ambition. Up at the top symbolizes the kits lives who were wasted. To the left of Brokenstar is Beetlewhisker, a cat who was effected by Brokenstar's gluttony, and to the right is Ferncloud, who gave her last breath to stop Brokenstar's gluttony.
Although, I always thought his characterization was such a waste-*shot*
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Tigerstar is greed.
This one was pretty easy to determine. Well, what is greed? Money, dear boy/girl/preferred gender/look I'm going to offend someone without even trying so can we please move on? (Basically, greed is wanting MORE. AND MORE - usually money.) It is also desiring material possessions such as, hmm...a leadership position? Although that doesn't stop him, even in death. The cat's a trooper.
Let's see...
* He killed Redtail to become deputy, and thus to gain higher status.
*He saw Firestar as an obstacle in his path to become leader.
*Planned against Bluestar for the sake of his ambition.
* Took over ShadowClan because screw you Bluestar he is becoming leader!
* Formed TigerClan and stabbed Leopardstar in the back because he wasn't satisfied with being just ShadowClan leader.
* He wasn't satisfied with being TigerClan leader so he decided to take over the whole Clans with BloodClan which ends with him getting eviscerated to death by a wrathful Scourge.
* He wasn't satisfied with THAT, so he plots against the Clans...in death.
* He tried to get his sons in the family business because he was going to become leader through his sons.
* He tried to get his grandson in the family business because of the same reason above.
Need I go on? The cat is greed incarnate.
As for the symbolism, the characters around him are four characters who were effected by his greed.
To the far left top is Bluestar, who was effected mentally by his greed considering what she went through what can be considered as PTSD which was partly due to his betrayal. To the far right top is Firestar, who had to put up with Tigerstar's greed and the next two generations of his family as well. To the far left bottom is Tiny, who is a product of Tigerstar's ruthlessness, and Tigerstar's greed to take over all the Clans led Scourge to get his revenge against him. To the far right bottom is Leopardstar, who was stabbed in the back due to Tigerstar's greed and whose Clan suffered because of his greed. And cruelty. Don't forget cruelty. At the very top is Tigerstar again, because he wasn't satisfied with just one drawing on him and wanted more. Finally, the two cats most effected by his greed are Bramblestar and Hawkfrost, and those two are shadows in Tigerstar's body.
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Mapleshade is envy.
Envy was sort of difficult to pick, but I always did think about Mapleshade fitting it the best. I considered Blossomfall and Ivypool, but they were just jealous, not envious. That is because jealousy is just wishing you had things another person has. Envy is wanting to be another person, and live their life. They want it, whatever 'it' is. That is pretty much's Mapleshade's story, only more murderous. However, what really made think she fits this very well was her confrontation with Sandstorm.
It turns out, Mapleshade had an extreme hatred towards Sandstorm. She wanted her suffer because Maplehade thought she deserved the life that Sandstorm had. She also has shades of this even before her trauma conga line. She thought in her head towards Reedshine how Appledusk was hers, even thinking about how she would be having HIS kits. She even went as far as to try and kill Reedshine because she hated that Reedshine was having Appledusk's kits. She even targeted Reedshine’s living descendants. She tormented Crookedstar for revenge. This was just because he was related to Reedshine, whom she envied. No, not Appledusk, the cat who wronged her, but Reedshine, who was not intentionally ill-willed towards Mapleshade.
Symbolism-wise, there's a lot going on.
"Speak no evil." The kit with the weird taped mouth is next to Ravenwing, who planned to reveal that Mapleshade's kits were Appledusk's.
"See no evil." The kit with poorly drawn bleeding eyes is the one of the hallucinations Mapleshade saw of her dead kits, and Frecklewish as the "see no evil." She saw the kits drowning, but did not act.
"Do no evil." The hallucinated kit close towards Appledusk, the cat directly above Mapleshade is ironic symbolism towards the fact that Mapleshade planned revenge for her dead kit by killing Reedhsine, who DID NO EVIL to her, but instead killed Appledusk, who she wasn't aiming to kill, but who actually wronged her.
The evil laughing cat on the bottom right is Mapleshade's view of Reedshine. To the left, the cat who seems to be spilling leaves is Spottedleaf, who was a victim of Mapleshade's envy towards Sandstorm.
Speaking of Sandstorm, in Mapleshade’s chest is are two mates being all lovey-dovey, which represents the life Mapleshade wanted. It is Sandstorm and Firestar with an ‘X’ crossing them out, which is also a scar. I multitasked. XD
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Sol is sloth.
His was the easiest to decide. In fact, he was the first character I picked out and actually the reason I started this project to begin with. I was thinking. "Sol is definitely Sloth." Then...this happened. ^^
Anyways, sloth is pretty much not wanting to do physical work. However, sloth is also a lack of spirituality. Sol fits both of these definitions. Here's a quick summary to show how lazy I am Sol is.
* Wanted to become a Sky warrior, but was not willing to put in the work involved. He decides to take the easy way out by kidnapping Leafstar's kits and being seen as a hero. This does not work.
* Forms his own 'Clan,' but hardly cares about them or their well-being, and orders them around such as telling them to go get him some prey. This is after they were attacked by dogs, also.
* Barely hunts for himself, and manipulates the characters around him into doing what he wants instead of doing it himself.
* Causes ShadowClan to become slothful in a spiritual sense as they turn their back against Starclan while Sol is at the reigns. He's also lazy there too. Then there is the fact Sol himself is spiritually slothful, as he has no faith in StarClan.
* He hardly physically fights. When he does fight, he gets his butt kicked.
He also fits nigh every single trope of the slothful villain. He is manipulative, and is constantly pulling the characters on strings. He is a chessmaster and puppeteer, but also hardly gets far with his plans as he only relies on his mind. He also tends to break cats by talking, causing them to be slothful as they question themselves and their beliefs. He's pretty much a lazy corruptive bum.
In the background there is a lot of symbolism going on. Naturally, I used puppets and strings, despite my hatred of fake dolls and puppets. *shudder* But hey, the cat are being pulled by strings-*shot*
To the left of Creepy Sol is a mobile with the mother cat as Leafstar and three kittens below as offspring. The mobile design has skies for SkyClan. Below the mobile is a stuffed cat doll that is supposed to represent the Three becoming temporary puppets, but the strings can't be seen. Still...*shudder* To the far right is a puppet that is supposed to be Firestar, as it represents how the Clans (Firestar as their mascot) think they have the jump on Sol, but Sol has been pulling their strings the whole time. Below that is a sun that is supposed to represent the eclipse, and below that is a Blackstar puppet strung to it with a mask that shows only what Sol wants him to see. Finally, the cat above with pinprick eyes is Hollyleaf, who originally had one claw to Sol's throat with broken strings. However, I wanted Sol without any other cat so it was scrapped. She represents Sol's weakness, as it was she in The Forgotten Warrior who revealed just how powerless Sol was in a real fight. As for the broking strings, he can't manipulate her anymore. Then, in Sol's body is a marionette cat. It originally was Jayfeather, but now I see it as a cat being pulled by strings.
Fun fact: I typed ‘strings’ 9 times.
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Ashfur is lust.
Of all the sins to pick out, lust was absolutely the most difficult. This is because a lot of characters and situations in Warriors can be interpreted several different way. Spiderleg and Daisy had a one-night stand, but does that qualify? GrayXSilver was just cat hormones, right? So...yeah, it was very difficult. I thought about using Crowfeather, but he didn't come off as the type of terrible than what I was looking for. I even thought about using Hawkfrost due to the meta notion that somehow he gets all the mates, not to mention his interactions towards other characters coming off as sexual, (and creepy) but that was just an interpretation, not canon. So I thought, who in Warriors is obsessive, has no control over their desires, and who thinks they are entitled to someone?
Then it hit me.
DUH.
No other character but Ashfur fit. And he fits perfectly. Sexually speaking, he wanting to be mates with Squirrelflight and have kits with her. She wanted to be friends, and he reacted. Bady. VERY BADLY. His problem was obsession. He was obsessed over a Squirrelflight that did not exist. He did not care about what she wanted. He did not care about her feelings. He only cared about himself. He never controlled himself and his desires and let his obsession of her get worse, and worse, and worse, and until he ended up helping a traitor assassinate his leader. Then he tried to kill her kits, because HOW DARE SHE NOT DO WHAT HE WANTED TO?! (That is my attempt at sarcasm, lovely readers. ^^”) Then there is Yellowfang's line about him 'loving too much.' Yes, he did love her too much. A false her. He never loved the real Squirrelflight at all.
Ashfur's background symbolism is pretty simple, as I made his symbolism more about his appearance. The three cats at the top are Jayfeather, Lionblaze, and Hollyleaf in that order, and they are in the iconic fire scene. To the left of Ashfur is a Squirrelflight that never existed. He sees that Squirrelflight as someone to hate, because 'she' wronged him. I tried to draw her more 'appealing' than Squirrelflight on the right, as the fake ‘Squirrelflight’ has no flaws or personality. She's an 'object'. (I threw up a tad bit typing that. Ugh.) On the right is the real Squirrelflight, who is understandably very angry her kits are in danger and displaying real emotions, with real thoughts and feelings. Ashfur himself has a heart in his left eye, which is a sort of physical symbolism of 'Ashfur vision', which is how Ashfur sees Squirrelflight in his mind. The right eye is just drawn that way for unnerving effect. The blue cuts and wounds are Ashfur ' bleeding out on the stones, wondering how they can't see the blood.' That superedgy5me symbolism HAD to be drawn of this drawing would be incomplete. Also, his 'heart is full of scars!' I had a LOT of fun with the super edge on this.
But hey! pride is up next, so look on the Mr. Brightside-*shot 1,000 times*
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BWAH??? HOLLYLEAF?!
Yes. Hollyleaf is pride. ^^
While trying to figuring out the entire rainbow of evil, I automatically thought of Hollyleaf after deciding Sol was definitely sloth. She was pride, no doubt. While so many cats have pride, and have shown pride, none compare to Hollyleaf. (Well, maybe Clear Sky, but Hollyleaf fits just a bit better.)
Pride is often the worst sin, as it is setting oneself above God. Or, above the highest power, or whatever you believe. It is putting oneself first, and believing one is better than all else.
Hollyleaf showed a great deal of arrogance and selfishness in Power of Three. She believed she was destined for greater things, thought she was better than cats outside the Clans, and set herself up to be praised as a hero and to be recognized. While she did go to RiverClan out of kindness, she also did so because she thought only she could help them. She originally became a medicine cat because she wanted the respect and recognition Leafpool had, as she wanted to be important and known. Later on, she starts to have a mental breakdown as she discovers she isn't as special as she thought she was, and is terrified to think she might have be born outside the Clan. She then kills Ashfur to keep that secret. Then, when she discovers Crowfeather is her father, and Leafpool, her mother, the knowledge her very birth broke the Warrior Code pushes her over the edge. She decides to play 'God' and punish Leafpool and Squirrelflight herself, by revealing the secret and later trying to force Leafpool to eat deathberries. Then, too prideful to admit her wrongs, she runs off into the tunnels, as 'no cat will understand.' It takes an entire story for her to humble herself and admit she was wrong. The rest of her story is atoning for her sins. This is very interesting, as pride is often the sin that cannot be atoned for. Of all the characters I chose, Hollyleaf is the only antagonist to better herself and become an unquestionable true hero.
Hollyleaf's background is my favorite of them all, as the symbolism is off the charts. First of all, Hollyleaf's background is all about her. It depicts her loss of innocence and gradual feel-heel-turn as her story becomes darker and darker, and her pride becomes more destructive. The first Hollyleaf, the lightest, is her as a kit wanting to be a medicine cat to help the Clan and gain recognition. The next one on the right is Hollyleaf wanting to help RiverClan, as she thinks only she can. Next on the middle left is Hollyleaf chanting "The Warrior Code" during her warrior ceremony. Next on the middle right is Hollyleaf in the fire scene when Ashfur reveals the secret. Below than one is Hollyleaf revealing the secret at the gathering. Then, the Hollyleaf on the far bottom left is Hollyleaf telling Leafpool she deserves to die. The six wings by each Hollyleaf symbolizes her fall into darkness, as the wings get darker and darker as the pictures descends. The Hollyleaf just above the Pride!Hollyleaf (so many Hollyleafs!) is Hollyleaf when she realizes just what she's done, but won't admit she's wrong. Finally, the Hollyleaf in Pride!Hollyleaf is Hollyleaf after realizing she is wrong, and wishing she could redo the past.